Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-08-25
ALLAH QuaEtsFnaiin;;
4 BROWNING CITY.
By n. Rider Haggard, Aut!,or c
"Eiug Solomon's Mines, "Sne", - w,
CHAPTER 1I.-THE MISSION STAT. -.


We made the remains of our boat fast to
the other canoe, and sat waiting for the
dawn, and cOngratulating ourselves upon
our merciful escape, which really seemed
to result more from the special favor of
Providence than from our own care or
prowess. At last it came, and have not
often been more grateful to see the light,
though so far as my canoe was concerned
it revealed a CHASTITY sight. There in the
bottom of the little boat lay the unfOrtun-
ate Askari, the SINE, or sword, in his bOS-
ON, and the severed hand gripping the
handle. I could not bear the sight; so haul
ing up the stone which had served as an
anchor to the other canoe, we made it fast
to the murdered man and dropped him
overheard, and down he went to the bot
tom, leaving nothing but train of bubbles
behind him! Alas! when our time comes.
most of us, like him, leave nothing but
bubbles behind, to show that we have been,
and the bubbles soon burst. The hand Of
his murderer we threw into the stream,
and [ saw young crocodile seize it as it
was slowly sinking. The SINE, or sword,
of which the handle was ivory, inlaid with
gold evidently Arab work., | kept and
used as hunting knife, and very useful it
proved.
Then, man having been transferred to
my canoe, we once more started on in very
low spirits and not feeling at all comforta-
BILE as to the future, but fondly hoping to
fetch up at the Highlands" station by
night. To make matters worse, within an
hour of sunrise it came on to rain in tor,
rents, Wetting us to the skin and even ne
cessitating the occasional baling of the
nc 1aiT no 10 n
we could not use our sails, and had to get
along as best we could with our paddles.
At eleven o'clock we halted on an open
piece of or und on the left bank of the
river, and, the rain abating little, man
aged to make q fire and catch and boil
some fish. We did not dare to wander
about to search for game. AT two o'clock
we got off again, taking a supply of boiled
fish with us, and shortly afterward the
rain came on harder than ever. Also, the
river began to get exceedingly difficult to
navigate on account of the numerous
rocks, reaches of shallow water, and the
increased force of the current; so that it
soon became clear to us that we should
not reach the Rev Mackenzie's hospitable
roof that ,night-a prospect that did not
tend to enliven us. Toll as we would we
could not make more than an average of a
mile an hour; and at five o'clock in the af-
ternoon (by which time we were all utterly
worn out) we reckoned that we were still
quite ten miles below the station. This
being so, we set to work making the best
arrangements we could for the night AT
ter our recent experience, we simply did
not dare to land, more especially as the
banks of the Tana were here clothed with
dense bush that would have given cover to
i've Thousand Nasal, and at first thought
that we were going to have another night
of it in the canoes. Fortunately, however,
we espied little rocky islet, not more
than fifteen yards or so square, situated
nearly in the middle of the river For this
we padded and, making fast the canoes,
landed and made ourselves as comfortable
as circumstances would permit, which was
very uncomfortable indeed. As for the
weather, it continued to be simply vile; the
rain coming down in sheets till we were
chilled to the marrow, and utterly prevent
ing us from lighting a fire. There was,
however, one conSOling circumstance about
this rain; our Askari declared that nothing
would induce the Nasal to make an attack
IN it, as they intensely dislike moving about
III the wet; perhaps as Good suggested,
because they hate the idea of washing.
we ate some insipid and sodden cold
ish-that is, with the exception of I'm
slOpogaaS, who, like most Zulus, cannot
bear ashland then commenced what with
one eXception-when we three white men
nearly persisted of cold on the snow of
ShebaS Breast in the course of our journey
to kukuanaland-was, [ think, the most
trying night ever experienced. 1t seemed
absolutely endless; and once or twice ]
feared that two of the Asl1ari would have
died of the wet, cold, and exposure for no
African people can stand much exposure,
which first paralyZes and then kills them
/ could see that even that iron old warrior,
Umslopogaas, felt it keenly; though, in
strange contrast to the Wakwafis, who
groaned and bemoaned their fate unceas
ingly, he never uttered single complaint
To make matters worse, about one in the
morning we again heard the OWLS Ominous
hooting and had at once to prepare our
selves for another attack; though, if any
body had attempted it, do not think that
we could have offered a very effective re-
sistance. But either the owl was n bona
tide one this time, or else the Nasal were
themselves too miserable to think OF often
sive operations. which, indeed, they rarely,
If ever, undertake in bush veldt. At any
rate, we saw nothing Of them.
At last the dawn came gliding across the
water wrapped in wreaths of ghostly
mist, and, with the daylight, the rain
ceased; and then, oh, joy! out came the
glorious sun. sucking up the mists and
warming the chill air. Benumbed and ut
terly exhausted, we dragged ourselves 60
our feet, and went and stood in the bright
rays, and were thankful for them. l can
quite understand how primitive people be-
came sun-worshipers, especially if their
conditions of life rendered them liable to
exposure.
In half an hour more we were again max
ing fair progress with the help of q good
wind. 1t seemed that our spirits had re-
turned with the sunshine, and we were
ready to laugh at difficulties and dangers
that had been almost crushing on the
previous day.
And so we went on cheerily till about
eleven o'clock Just as we were thinking
of halting as usual, to rest and try to shoot
something to eat, sudden bend in the
river brought us In sight OF a substantial
looking European house with q yeranda